The Importance of Leadership Principles

Tonya D. Harrison 0:12

Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Operations Toolbox podcast for business leaders . I'm your host , Tonya D Harrison , and in today's episode we are going to dive deep about a topic that often goes under the radar but is truly the backbone of an effective team in leadership , and this is principles . Can you believe that principles is something that is hardly ever talked about and people don't focus on it enough , which can cause a huge breakdown when we're talking about teams ? So we're going to be talking about why do principles matter so much when you're leading a team and what happens when they're absent , and , of course , we're going to give you some tips to walk away with . How do you implement your principles within the team and have it as a way where it becomes a part of the natural culture of the team ? First , let's talk about what we mean by principles . Principles are essentially the foundational beliefs that guide a leader's actions , behaviors and decisions . Think of them as your internal compass . This is something that you are going to use when situations get challenging or tough , and they will . Your principals are going to help you to stay the course . They are going to help inform how you respond to certain conflicts and how you communicate and how you handle accountability and how you celebrate success . But principals aren't just for leaders . They actually become a part of the team's culture . So , when you lead with integrity , respect , transparency , empathy , all of these things , these qualities invisible structure that holds the team together and aligns everyone towards shared goals .

Tonya D. Harrison 2:32

So let's move on and let's talk about the importance of principles and leadership . So we talk about what principles are , but let's talk about why they are so essential when you are building a team or when you are leading a team . So many people believe that their principles don't impact the team . As a leader , they do , because they dictate how you show up , they dictate how you lead the team , so they are essential when it comes to this . So , when we're talking about in the world of leadership , you're going to come across some tough situations . You're going to have to make some decisions , you are going to have to discipline people within your team . You need to and you want to have some principles and some values that you are using in order to help you do this the best way possible .

Tonya D. Harrison 3:34

So I want to share with you a story , and this is from my tenure . This was a part of my journey in corporate and from time to time I share these stories when they are applicable and when they align . So I worked at an organization and I have been passed over more than once for a position , but there came a time where my boss in front of my team said that I was going to be promoted to a specific role . Well , months passed and that didn't happen , and the next announcement that they heard was that they were bringing somebody in to fill the role that they said that I was going to be promoted into . So I had a lot of feelings about this right . So , as you can imagine , just being passed over several times was enough . But now you know , for my team to experience this firsthand , where I wasn't just told that I was going to be promoted , they were told I was going to be promoted . I wasn't just told that I was going to be promoted , they were told I was going to be promoted . I wasn't the only one that was told somebody was coming in over me to fill that role . They were told that . So there was a lot of feelings .

Tonya D. Harrison 4:53

I had a lot of feelings about it , my team had a lot of feelings about

Use challenging times to encourage team discussion.

Tonya D. Harrison 4:57

it , and that was a challenging time for me because I had to decide how I was going to move forward . I had to decide how I was going to handle this with my team . Well , a lot of my team members were upset and they wanted to talk about that . So we had a meeting and I allowed them to share their feelings , because I do believe in making space for certain things . However , the one thing that I would not engage in is that I did not have separate conversations about it . I did not talk about , you know , the bad leadership team and what they did to me , and I felt that me engaging at that level , having those conversations it didn't serve a purpose . It wasn't gonna help . We were all going through a lot . They didn't need that . So I chose to handle it in a different way . I chose not to have those sidebar conversations with my team . I chose not to engage in negativity when it came to upper management and leadership with that situation , and that was mainly because I allowed my principles to dictate how I would move in that season , and not my emotions .

Tonya D. Harrison 6:31

So this is a part of being . This is a part of emotional intelligence as well , but we're going to stick to principles , right , so that I share that with you , because there are going to be challenging times and there may be times where you feel like you are justified by doing certain things and your principles and your values are going to stand up and say no , that's not the way we carry ourselves and that's not the way we do things . Well , my team quickly saw that . They rallied around me . They understood , they knew how I felt , but , at the same time , what it allowed them to do was not to continue to focus on that . We were there to accomplish

How do strong principles build trust and team performance?

Tonya D. Harrison 7:14

some things . We stayed focused on the goal and what it was that we were trying to accomplish . We continue to be a high performing team till the day I left and I attribute a lot of that to me bringing my principles and my values to the table .

Tonya D. Harrison 7:33

So let's really sort through this and talk about some of the main reasons why you want to make sure that you have good principles . One is building trust and consistency . A leader who consistently upholds principles like fairness , honesty , reliability , transparency all of these things your team learns to trust you , and when people know what to expect from a leader , it builds a foundation of trust that's crucial to any high-performing teams . So , even though my team knew how I felt they knew what my principles were , they knew that I was going to do a good job , no matter what . And they fell in line and they did the same thing . We did not slack , we did not miss a beat . We continued doing what we were called to do .

Tonya D. Harrison 8:24

The second thing is guiding decision making right . So principles , simply , they simplify the decision . It may not be easy , but they simplify it . It makes it especially easy to make certain choices during tough times , right ? So , even though my feelings wanted to just rag on upper management , my principles wouldn't allow me to do it . So it overruled the emotions what I was feeling . I still felt them , but I didn't act upon them . I acted upon my principles .

Tonya D. Harrison 9:03

The third thing is resilience during challenging times . So , when times get tough , principles can be a powerful stabilizer . They can be a source of stability . And if you work in an environment , if you work in business right , there is going to be challenging times . There's going to be times where you are going to have to have resilience and organizations that I work for we went through all kind of things . I mean from acquisitions and mergers , and anytime those things happen , there's a lot of changes , even budget cuts . So you know , you have to have resilience , right ? So today you are working alongside somebody and tomorrow they're gone . How do you handle that ? So you know , just making sure that you have those principles to stand on is extremely beneficial . So you know , those are some things , that those are some benefits from having principles . Some things that those are some benefits from having principles .

Tonya D. Harrison 10:12

Now , imagine leading a team without principles , or even being a part of a team that doesn't have principles . I've been a part of teams where the leaders did not have good values and principles , and what it did was it wreaked havoc on the team . It caused confusion , misalignment , people weren't respectful , people lacked integrity because the team just kind of followed suit . Right ? So if the leader of the team isn't bringing these things to the table and setting the structure that the team should follow , then the team is just going to start to do all of these things that are confusing and misaligned . It also causes a lot of conflict , right ? So as a leader , you have to be strong . Right , it's not going to always be easy , but it will always be worth it .

Tonya D. Harrison 11:04

So if you've been a part of some of these teams , you understand what I'm saying . So you know that , as a leader , you have to have these things and in this day and age where we are in the world , we need to have some values and some principles that we are bringing to leadership . We should have always been bringing them , but I feel like now more than ever , we really need them . We need these shared principles to bring us together . So how do we implement this in our teams ? What does it look like ? This is the meat of it , right . So we know that there's some benefits

Defining clear principles to effectively lead teams.

Tonya D. Harrison 11:41

to it . We understand that not having them in our team and not leading with principles can wreak havoc on ourselves , our organization , but our teams . So how do we instill and uphold these principles as a leader of a team ?

Tonya D. Harrison 11:59

Well , the first thing you want to do is you want to define your core principles . You need to understand what they are , write them down , make sure that they are clear . I have a 90-day program for leaders , and this is one of the main things that we do . Right , because if you don't define them , you risk the chance of allowing somebody else to define them for you , and that's the last thing that you want to do . So think about what are the values that are most important to you as a leader and write those things down , like for me , it is extremely important that everybody on my team feel seen and feel heard , feels respected . Like these are things that are ingrained . You know that they feel that they're being treated fairly unfairly . So write down whatever those things are and then you want to communicate these values to your team . You want to be real clear about what you accept , what you don't accept . I don't accept disrespect . I don't accept whatever those things are . You want to be really clear about what they are and you want to communicate it .

Tonya D. Harrison 13:04

The second thing is is that you got to lead by example . You can't say one thing and then do something else , because there is that misalignment that we see too often , right ? So if I say that I am big on fairness , then I need to be walking the walk . If I'm big on respect , I need to be walking the walk . I need to make sure that these things are a part of our normal process , right ? So I have to lead by example and I have to be consistent in upholding these principles so that my team sees that these are not just words that are written on a mission statement or written down somewhere . These are actually things that are going to guide us . We demonstrate them every day in everything that we do .

Tonya D. Harrison 13:52

The third thing you want to do is communicate openly and often so . Initially , when you write the principles or the core values for your team , you're going to share it , but you want to repeatedly make sure that you are communicating these on a regular basis . Sometimes you may hear me say in a team meeting right , if I feel like someone is dominating the conversation , I may say remember , we need to hold space for all people to be heard . That's a sign that everybody on this team is going to be heard . Everybody has a voice . So just making sure that you are repeating it , that you are communicating it and making it a part of it , and when it gets to the point where they hear it on a regular basis , then it becomes just something that's natural .

Tonya D. Harrison 14:43

The other thing , number four , is to hold yourself and others accountable . So if people are not abiding by these core values and principles , then you need to be saying something , but even more importantly than that , you need to be holding yourself accountable as the leader . This is extremely important , again , walking the walk , and sometimes you have to say you know what I did that . That wasn't the right thing to do , and if there's an opportunity to correct it , you correct them . The fourth thing is you have to reinforce and celebrate success . So a lot of times we don't , we don't do this right , but when you see people that are following these values , you know be open to celebrate , be open to reward them , to acknowledge it , especially if this is a hurdle or something that has been really hard to integrate Right .

Tonya D. Harrison 15:43

So I'll go back to using the one where making sure everybody feels seen and heard . You know , if you have somebody that says , oh , I have something else to say , but I'm going to wait and give everybody else an opportunity to speak , oh , thank you for that . Thank you for considering other people , because that means that now they are really thinking about it and they are considering other people and giving other people an opportunity to bring their ideas to the table . So these are ways that you can walk it out , that you can implement it right now ,

Why core values are essential for effective leadership.

Tonya D. Harrison 16:20

today . So just pick one of these that you're going to do .

Tonya D. Harrison 16:23

If you have not and I would start from the beginning in this case if you have not listed out what your core values are , I would recommend that you do that very early , in the beginning , that you do that first right and get really clear on the things that you value , on the principles , because you will be challenged in this leadership journey . You will be challenged in this world and you want to make sure that you have something to stand on and you don't forget what it is that you stand for . So , in a nutshell , principles are the bedrock of effective leadership . They're what keeps your team aligned , trustworthy , resilient in those times where you are going to need it . And a lack of principles , on the other hand , can lead to confusion , misalignment , mistrust , conflict and a breakdown of the team .

Tonya D. Harrison 17:22

So you know , if you are leading a team or if you are aspiring to lead a team , you want to define your principles and you want to live by them in a way that is obvious to your team . They shouldn't have to say is she honest or isn't she honest ? No , they should be able to clearly see , based off your actions , that this is who you are , you are fair or whatever those principles are . So if you have any questions at all , I mean , shoot me a message . I feel that this is an extremely important topic and this is something that is extremely important when we're talking about building high-performing teams because without these , your teams will not be successful . So thanks for tuning in to today's episode of the Operations Toolbox podcast for business leaders . I hope you found this episode helpful and , if you have , please share with other leaders who might benefit from these insights , and don't forget to subscribe for more tips high-performing building teams . I'm Tonya D Harrison and I'll see you in the next episode . Keep leading with purpose and integrity .